Halsey (1) – Week Of January 12, 2019

Hey guys! If you haven't already, be sure to check out my review of Hits 1's Top 45 of 2018. It is my previous post and will be linked here. I put a lot of work into it so check it out! More year-end posts are on the way and I plan on introducing my new rankdown soon. So that's some stuff to be excited for. I can't say this week was a good week for the countdown because of our #1 and one of our debuts. But I will get into it further into the post. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Shawn Mendes – Nervous (#31)
• Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful (#41)
• Twenty One Pilots – My Blood (#42)
• NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling

The Countdown

45. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#44) [2 Weeks At #1]

44. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#43) [9 Weeks At #1]

43. George Ezra – Shotgun (#40)

42. Steve Aoki/BTS – Waste It On Me (#37)

41. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#38)

40. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity (#32)

39. Olly Murs/Snoop Dogg – Moves (#21)

38. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (#39)

37. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#35) [4 Weeks At #1]

36. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#36)

35. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#33)

34. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me (#26)

33. Dan + Shay – Speechless (DEBUT)

32. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#30)

31. Lauv/Julia Michaels – There's No Way (#27)

30. Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life (DEBUT)

29. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#29)

28. Khalid – Better (DEBUT)

27. Imagine Dragons – Machine (DEBUT)

26. Camila Cabello – Consequences (#16)

25. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (#34)

24. lovelytheband – Broken (#19)

23. Lauren Jauregui – Expectations (#22)

22. James Arthur – Empty Space (#25)

21. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me (#20)

20. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine (#23)

19. Ariana Grande – Breathin (#14)

18. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#13)

17. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (#18)

16. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#15) [1 Week At #1]

15. David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone (#24)

14. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (#17)

13. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (#28)

12. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#11)

11. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower (#12)

10. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (#9)

  9. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next (#6)

  8. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#7) [2 Weeks At #1]

  7. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#8)

  6. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#10)

  5. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood (#5) [5 Weeks At #1]

  4. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#4) [2 Weeks At #1]

  3. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#2) [8 Weeks At #1]

  2. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#1) [4 Weeks At #1]

  1. Halsey – Without Me (#3) [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Ed Sheeran – Perfect (2)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Olly Murs – Moves (–18)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (+15)

New Entrants
~ First up, we have Dan + Shay bringing another song to the countdown, which is something that makes me happy since they're arguably the best country act in music along with Carrie Underwood. I don't think Speechless is as good as Tequila, but to be fair Tequila is a hard song to top. That one is still really great and earned a pretty high spot in my Top 45 Songs of 2018. But these guys always make nice songs and Speechless is exactly that. It's a nice tune with good lyrics. I really like their voices and I think the chorus is really good. I enjoy the song a lot and I would love to see it be a hit like its predecessor. Dan + Shay deserve the success.

~ Next is Ruin My Life by Zara Larsson. I'm not exactly familiar with a lot of her music. Obviously there was Never Forget You, which was a pretty big hit. I still really like that song. I know she was also featured in the Tinie Tempah song Girls Like, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I really liked Larsson's chorus in that song. Now we have Ruin My Life and I feel like this should've been a much better song than it is. I wasn't exactly impressed by what I heard. I don't find it all that interesting and I don't really like the chorus. She has a really great voice, but I don't think she takes full advantage of it here. I prefer Never Forget You over this song by quite a lot. I think Zara Larsson has potential, but this is not her best work. I'm happy to see her on this countdown again though, because I know she is incredibly talented.

~ Shortly after that, we have Better by Khalid. For some reason, I wasn't expecting much going into this song. I haven't exactly loved all of Khalid's work, but I know he's very talented. But I really like Better. I think this is one of the best songs out there currently. Khalid has such a great voice and it sounds so good on this song. He has a very unique sound and it just fits in really nicely with the vibe of the song. The chorus is really enjoyable and it's just a very chill song. I can probably do without the weird vocals at the end, but other than that, this song is excellent and I'm so glad it's here.

~ Oh boy....last (and definitely least) we have Imagine Dragons with the chaos that is Machine. I really like these guys even though the quality of their music has been on a decline over the years. I still think they're talented. But Machine is pure fucking garbage. The beat is very clunky and messy and I hate how it sounds. Dan Reynolds sounds okay in the first half of the first verse. But then he just starts yelling out of nowhere and then we get a chorus full of yells, which does not sound good at all. The chorus sounds like a terrible ripoff of I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett. The guitar solo sounds VERY bad and out of place. The end of it leading into the last chorus where Dan shouts "I AM THE MACHINE!!!" is absolutely excruciating to my ears. It makes me want to think this song is some kind of joke. The guitar comes back in the last chorus, making it even worse than it already was. And it ends with another "I am the machine," which doesn't sound as bad as the other one, but it has weird as hell vocal effects. Honestly, this song is a fucking mess from start to end. It tries to be this anthemic political rock tune, but fails in every way possible because Imagine Dragons is the furthest thing from a rock band out of all the bands that are categorized as alternative or rock. I really hope this song doesn't stay because it's trash. This is the second worst song on the countdown right now and it's not very far behind the #1, which I'll get to eventually. Imagine Dragons, you guys need to up your game quite a lot because all this song does is give me a massive headache.


Best Debut of the Week: Khalid – Better


Hit-Bound
~ Here is the Hit-Bound list.

• Post Malone – Wow (DEBUT)
• Sabrina Carpenter – Sue Me (DEBUT)
• lovelytheband – Maybe, I'm Afraid
• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Killer Queen
• Charli XCX/Troye Sivan – 1999
• Seeb/Bastille – Grip
• Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More (DEBUT)
• Benny Blanco/Calvin Harris – I Found You
• Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It's Over
• Pitbull/Rhea – Ocean To Ocean
• Dean Lewis – Be Alright
• Stephen Puth – Sexual Vibe
• Alessia Cara – Trust My Lonely
• Lauren Daigle – You Say
• Travis Scott/Drake – Sicko Mode (DEBUT?)

~ First up is Post Malone with Wow. I think Post is talented and he has a good voice. I don't like this song because I think it's very generic and I don't like how he sounds here. It's not as bad as Psycho and I feel like this is something I can come around over time. But right now, it's not good. I don't recommend it.

~ Next is generic Sabrina Carpenter bringing another uninteresting song. I did like Almost Love and I included it as an honorable mention for my best list of 2018. Other than that, nothing she has done has been that good. Sue Me is another example of that. I don't like how she sounds in the verses. Apparently one of the producers of this song also produced Sorry Not Sorry by Demi Lovato, which I really hated. I can definitely hear the similarities with the bland as hell beat. This is not nearly as bad because Sabrina actually sounds okay in the chorus. But it's not a very interesting song at all.

~ Next we have a song that I am so glad is finally here! It's Miss Me More by Kelsea Ballerini. I love this song so much. I never cared too much for Kelsea Ballerini's music, but Miss Me More is a whole other story. The guitar sounds amazing. The beat is very solid. Kelsea sounds fantastic all throughout the song. I absolutely love that chorus. It is so catchy and easily gets stuck in my head. The background vocals sound great. The lyrics are good. There's nothing here for me to criticize. This is a top-notch track that is currently the best song on Hits 1. This should debut and I have a good feeling that it will. Hopefully it happens soon. I've been a fan of this song for a while and it deserves to be big even if it's a few months old. Also, just a heads up that I have a year-end post coming up where I talk about the Best Songs of 2018 that missed Hits 1 and Miss Me More was already set to appear. I don't feel like changing it so the song will still be included in that post since it is technically eligible for it.

~ From what I've heard, Sicko Mode by Travis Scott featuring Drake, Big Hawk, and Swae Lee apparently did not debut on Hit-Bound. It is on the voting poll though, so I'd like to think that it's supposed to on there. But I'm just going to talk about it anyway. I think this song is very solid and definitely one of the best rap songs of 2018. You guys know how I feel about rap music. I've made my thoughts on the genre pretty clear in the past. But I think Sicko Mode is a great song. Travis Scott sounds really good and I love Drake's contribution. The production is solid and I really like the beat. I think this is a win honestly. I really like this song and I hope it gets to debut on the countdown. It deserves its shot.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More

2. Travis Scott/Drake – Sicko Mode*

3. Lauren Daigle – You Say

4. Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It's Over

5. Stephen Puth – Sexual Vibe

*If Sicko Mode doesn't count, then everything after it moves up one and #5 would be Be Alright by Dean Lewis.

Blurbless

~ We have a new #1 song and of course it goes to Without Me by Halsey despite the song being absolute trash. I'm not going to drone on about this. But Without Me is terribly-written, produced, and sung. Apparently this was nominated for Best Lyrics for the iHeartRadio Music Awards despite being one of the worst written songs of the year. I hate this song with a burning passion. It does not deserve to be #1 and as of right now, it's set to appear in my Worst Songs of 2019, although that may or may not change. We'll see.

~ As much as I don't love This Feeling, I'd much rather see that song at #1. I'll certainly take Happier at #1 again. I'll even take High Hopes for a 9th week at the top as long as it's not Without Me.

~ David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone made a jump into the Top 15. I'm not sure who is voting for this song because of how irrelevant it is. But it's there and it's nothing interesting at all. I would prefer if this were not a hit because it's not really that good. But Hits 1 is weird, so who knows what'll happen to this song?

~ Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine is in the Top 20 even though it's one of the worst songs from Trench. What is good is that Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart jumped into the Top 25. I've made my thoughts on this song clear. It very much deserves to be a hit.

~ Olly Murs – Moves took a hard fall this week even though it's a great song. It's not a hit, so I'm not surprised. But it definitely deserved better because it is a quality song from an man underrated in the U.S. who makes some very catchy songs and is very talented.

~ I feel like the countdown run for Shawn Mendes – In My Blood is coming to an end soon and I've been really enjoying that song lately since I've been praising it in my year-end posts. I feel like for a song that landed at #2 in my Top 45 Songs of 2018, it kind of deserves a week in purple since it was never in my Top 5 Picks prior to this week. So it's the best song on the countdown in my opinion just because I've been listening to it and enjoying it a lot these past couple weeks. I hope the song sticks around longer, but I feel it's time is ending.

~ As far as the exits go, Nervous was not exactly going to last. My Blood was underrated and deserved better. Beautiful lasted much longer than I thought it would and I'm glad it stayed for a while because it is a great song. It will be missed. But good riddance to I Wanna Know, which lasted way too long for an irrelevant song. It should've left a while ago, but I'm glad it didn't stay any longer.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

20. Halsey – Without Me
19. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly

1 – Bad:
18. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine
17. Anne-Marie – 2002

2 – Mediocre:
16. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next

3 – Decent:
15. David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
14. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower

4 – Good:
13. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
12. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho

5 – Great:
11. Imagine Dragons – Natural
10. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
9. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones
8. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
7. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
6. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
5. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
4. Ariana Grande – Breathin
3. Dan + Shay – Tequila
2. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
1. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks

Overall Score: 73/100 = 73% (B)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved

Most Missed Countdown Song: Imagine Dragons – Demons (back when they were actually a great band and not trashy like they are now)

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Tie Between Walk The Moon – Timebomb and Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Macklemore/Kesha – Good Old Days (#10)


My Top 5 Picks
1. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood
2. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks
3. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
4. Khalid – Better
5. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart


My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Halsey – Without Me (should not be anywhere near #1)
2. Imagine Dragons – Machine (should not even exist)
3. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (should not still be here)
4. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (he cannot sing)
5. Lauren Jauregui – Expectations (her voice is nails down a chalkboard)

Congrats to Lauv and Julia Michaels for somehow missing my Bottom 5 Picks.